#shadowdrei

My thoughts on the wizard wives

[Image ID: A relationship chart with four names on the vertices of a diamond. Starting at the top and going clockwise, the names are wulf, essek, caleb, astrid. Between each pair of names is one or two arrows in various colors. around the chart are labels of the different colors.

Between adjacent names are single lines with arrows on both ends. Between Astrid and Wulf, the arrow is labeled "bonded pair, do not separate." Between Wulf and Essek, "otp." Between Essek and Caleb, "the self-loathing is strong, but the love is stronger." Between Caleb and Astrid, "would kill the other. would also marry them."

Between opposite names are two arrows, one point from each to the other. The arrow from Wulf to Caleb is "I killed the person you used to be and it hurts to look at the person you are now." From Caleb to Wulf, "dtf but you're being so weird about it." From Astrid to Essek, "would fuck, wouldn't date." From Essek to Astrid, "slightly terrified of and trying to impress."

Astrid glared at the bowl in front of her. “Br—Caleb,” she said, “why is it always soup?”

“Ah, soup,” Thelyss said. “My favorite.” He smiled in Astrid’s direction, showing his fangs.

Caleb’s Tower was very nice, and it was kind of him to put herself and Eadwulf up while they pursued a rogue scourger across the Greying Wildlands. She didn’t quite know why Thelyss had been included on this outing of theirs, but Caleb had been quite insistent. The four of them very awkwardly tiptoed around one another in the Tower - Caleb and Thelyss because they were courting, of all the ridiculous situations, and Astrid and Wulf because they were Caleb’s exes and it was just all very weird.

Astrid glared at Thelyss and raised her spoon to her lips, wincing as the soup scalded her tongue. “Too hot?” murmured Wulf.

“Always so impatient,” Caleb said with a sly grin. “Sometimes, it is good to wait for good things.” His eyes darted to Thelyss, clearly not talking about soup. Astrid rolled her eyes expressively.

Thelyss squared his jaw as though Astrid’s attempt at powering through hot soup was a personal challenge. There was a gleam in his eyes as he caught her gaze. He was quite striking; for the first time, Astrid understood what Caleb saw in him.

Thelyss raised the spoon to his lips and sipped from it daintily, managing to suppress even the slightest wince; the fact that he worried at his tongue with his teeth was the only thing that gave him away.

“Delicious,” he said in a voice that almost didn’t sound hoarse.

Astrid narrowed her eyes at him and gathered another spoonful. As she sipped, she forced herself not to react to the temperature; years of schooling her face in the presence of Ikithon had given her many skills in such an arena.

Caleb glanced between the two of them. “Are you two…trying to one up each other on eating soup?”

Eadwulf gave a hearty laugh. “Absolutely,” he said. “Have you not yet realized how similar these two are?” He shamelessly blew on his own spoonful of soup. Weakling.

[C2 spoilers, light mention of whump, Blumendrei+Essek/Shadowgast]

What if the Blumendrei had never gone to Soltryce and lived mostly normal lives even through the war that still starts in 835 P.D.?

What if they became teenage sweethearts because Bren figured out some cantrips and Astrid and Wulf asked him to teach them when they learnt about it?

What if they went into their adult lives in a normal romantic relationship, each of them working at their family's business and learning some magic on their own until one day Bren is alone in the fields and the air ripples and out comes a drow, thoroughly whumped and wordless, scared of everything and everyone, and clutching a weird gilded dodecahedron?

What if Bren takes him somewhere safe and nurses him back to health to the best of his ability, hiding him from the rest of the village until Astrid finds out, and then Wulf, and then they have a very tense discussion before deciding to help the (Feebleminded, but it's not like they know what that is) drow? What if Essek saves from the spell at some point and (after hiding stuff because he might be grateful, but he can still a little shady, as a treat) learns that his rescuers are aspiring wizards, so he decides to teach them as best he can with what little they have?

Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Astrid Beck/Essek Thelyss, Eadwulf Grieve/Caleb Widogast, Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Astrid Beck/Eadwulf Grieve, Astrid Beck/Eadwulf Grieve/Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast

12: so let me hold you in my arms a while

“Do you think about dying often? Not, ah—you worship the Matron of Ravens.”

 “I don’t know how often normal people think about death. Probably, ja. It’s not like I look forward to it, but it seems…inevitable. Sooner rather than later.”

 Caleb doesn’t say anything.

"You should come visit me, sometimes. If you want to. Wulf too. I'm sure you both already know where I live." Astrid has spent fifteen years of her life living on scarps, on bitterness, on memories of being able to breath. she has clawed to herself with bloody hands the freedom to choose, to have, to reach for something more. Astrid wants. She says: "I will."

or: slowly, carefully, Astrid Beck builds a future.